on ethics, speaker boehner wants to pick a woman, any woman, he just has to choose one from among the membership of those two communities, right? this is the binder full of women that boehner has to choose from. if the republicans want to put anyone in charge of anything who john boehner knows that the president is right on taxes. he knows it, but he's afraid to say that now, so he's sending one of his loyal soldiers out there to say it for him. >> there may be a debate over whether it's a cliff or curb. >> bump in the road.

>> the curve of a mole hill. >> but there is one indes putable fact. >> the fact is definitely ticking. >> it's time for the president and democrats to get serious. >> i got a pen. i'm ready to sign it. >> some signs of compromise. >> congressman tom cole urged his colleagues to get in line behind president obama. >> that's just silly. >> scared me a little bit. >> i told tom earlier that i disagreed with him. >> shame on him. >> why would you do that? it's like selling your soul. >> i hope his wife understands. >> he brought my wife into it? he's never met me, my wife. >> his wife. >> some of these people have had impure thoughts? >> do you have any impure thoughts about grover norquist? >> it is not about that pledge. >> i'm not obligated on the pledge.

i will violate the pledge. >> deja vu all over again. >> he will be irrelevant. >> with the end of the world, deadly dragon, that would be interesting, except it's not true. >> he will be irrelevant and he knows it. >> what started as a bad week for the most famous grover since president cleveland has now gotten worse. the former chair of the house republicans campaign committee. who could always be relied upon to march in lock step with republican leadership has said he now agrees with president obama on taxes. >> we agree with the president on that. >> congressman cole said he thinks the house of

representatives should simply pass the bill that has passed the senate, preserving the current tax rates for all except those in the top brackets, which would revert to the clinton tax rates. the current rates are expected to expire on new year's eve, all of them, and congressman cole has decided it's time to face reality. >> these tax rates are going up automatically unless congress acts. to save as many of them as possible. >> the newest republican defector from grover norquist's pledge has instantly become as good a sales man for higher top tax rates as any democrat. >> right now, congress can pass a law that would prevent a tax hike on the first $250,000 of everybody's income. everybody's. even the wealthiest americans would still get a tax cut on the

first $250,000 of their income. it's not like folks who make more than 250 aren't getting a tax break, they've getting a tax break on the first 250, just like everybody else. >> congressman cole first said this in a closed door meeting with republicans yesterday. he said basically exactly what president obama just said and he then expanded on his comments instead of denying them or refusing to comment at all, which he could have done. house speaker john boehner, who needs other loyal republicans to start talking sense to crazy tea party, he was outraged by his suggestion. >> you're not going to grow the economy if you raise tax rates on the top two rates. we're willing to put revenue on the table as long as we're not raising rates.

>> but that didn't stop congressman cole from going on hardball today continuing to sell the idea of making peace with the president for the sake of 98% of american taxpayers. >> if the president's willing to accept 80% of the bush tax cuts for 98% of the american people and make them permanent, i think that is a point we should agree op. >> tom cole also made it clear he is still a boehner loyalist. >> i fully support him. what he's trying to achieve, which is no rate increase, but try and meet the president partway on revenue. i support that. i suspect he'll negotiate a good deal. at the end of the day, he'll come back and ask us to support him. i'll probably help him again. >> okay, so, what did boehner loyalist tom cole do after they said that on "hardball" at 5:00? now, remember, john boehner heard him say that on "hardball"

or his staff instantly reported to him exactly what tom cole just said on "hardball" and boehner could have grabbed the phone, got cole and told him to shut up. he could have told him to shut up before "hardball." boehner had the power before and after "hardball" to tell tom cole that his feature as a republican in the house of representatives depended on him shutting up right now and tom cole would have shut up the second john boehner told him to. so again, what did tom cole do after "hardball"? he went on cnn three hours later and said exactly the same thing and when he was asked what reaction he is getting from his fellow republicans in the house, he said this. >> i think the reaction is mixed. some support it, some don't. some have more questions about it. >> that is as positive a reaction as he could have

reported. there are 241 republicans in the house of representatives. the democrats need only 25 of them. to vote the way republican tom cole is now advocating that they vote. john boehner, very clearly wants at least 25 of his members to go the president's way now on taxes and he is very clearly happy to have congressman tom cole lead the what could be called the pro obama wing of the house republicans and solve this tax problem for the republican party. joining me now are msnbc's krystal ball and ryan grimm. krystal, that house of representatives is a soviet style institution. the leadership has those people locked in, especially the traditionalists, the loyal soldiers like cole. boehner needs him saying this

and that's why he hasn't shut him down. this is the biggest step they have made yet toward the president. >> yeah, i think that's right and frankly, their position is untenable because it put them in a very difficult position of saying look, let's all agree that we want to keep the rates where they are for the middle class and we can talk about this other piece. how can you defend holding hostage the middle class tax cuts? so i think you're right. tom cole not only needs to signal that republicans are reasonable, that they want to make the president, he has to start setting expectations with his base that they're going to have to compromise and john boehner has been sort o the image of the guy who wants to reach across the aisle in terms of house republicans and he's really tried in these negotiations to signal to his base, we've got to be tough, put obama care on the table. that's the line he has to walk and he has to get other members

of the party to essentially set expectations for people that they're going to have to give on things they don't want to. >> ryan, are we hearing any house republicans saying no way, we should not compromise? >> sure, and rand paul on the senate side who speaks for a lot of tea partiers said that today. said we shouldn't compromise. shouldn't even compromise on deductions. i thought your kremlin analogy was pitch perfect. there's a lot more going on and the last couple of years, there's been a ton of pressure from rank and file republicans on leadership saying look, we're getting killed at home over these millionaire tax cuts. why don't we just take what charles schumer offered, extend it for everybody but a million above and get this off the table and move on. leadership was able to unify their conference the last two

years around no tax cuts for anybody at any time, but now that tom cole is out now, the situation has changed a little bit, i think you're going see a lot of that pressure, which was mostly unreported start to bubble up a lot more. >> tom cole was asked tonight on cnn about defying grover norquist and the pledge. >> i admire grover norquist. i think he's done a lot of good. i signed that pledge. i'm honored to do it. i don't think in this case we would be breaking it by making what are temporary tax cuts permanent. i think we'd be doing the right thing. >> cole is trying to do him a favor by saying if we do this, it won't be breaking your pledge. therefore, your pledge still exists. i mean, that's about as big a favor as he can do him at that point. >> he's trying throw poor grover a lifeline. but i think the damage has been done because you've had so many people saying, lindsey graham saying i would violate the

pledge, end of story and i think the american public has become more aware of the pledge, how much it's dictated republican policy. you're supposed to be answering to us, the voter, so i think that has in addition to the fact that keeping these tax cuts in places so unpopular, i think just the idea i itself of the pledge has become politically toxic. >> i want you to listen to one more thing cole said today about holding the american people hostage. >> sounds like he's talking democratic talking points before he says this. >> frankly, i don't think we use the american people as a hostage in a negotiating type situation. >> where did he hear that before? >> exactly. they didn't just hold the american taxpayer hostage with the debt ceiling crisis, they

held the entire global economy hostage. and did actual damage to it. they did you know, i think the estimate was like 18 billion in taxpayer money, plus, they got credit downgrade. the stock market took a hit. i mean, the idea that it's perposterose that held hold the taxpayer hostage with nobody watching when they were threatening the government shutdown. i mean, where do you even start? >> it's an oklahoma republican, a straight party guide. this is not one of these new england republicans, you know, who's defecting and when he echoes a democratic talking point word for word like that,

crystal, it seems to me that he watched this campaign. he believes that this presidential campaign and congressional campaign has taught some lessons that the republicans must now observe. >> i think that's right. i mean, the playing field is fundamentally altered. they went to every length they possibly could to keep the president from succeeding in the first term with the hope of keeping him a one-term president and that strategy failed and failed miserable bly across the board. so, he is realizes they have to reassess that strategy. they can't just be the party of no. look at chris christie, also being a champion in the wake of hurricane sandy. people don't want just knee jerk no government. they want a government that really does work.

>> and a "washington post" poll showing 60% of americans support what is now in fact the tom cole barack obama position. raising incomes on over $250,000 in income. when you look at these polls the republicans are reading, when you look at the totality the way this is coming in, the point "the wall street journal" editorial board and tom cole was trying to drive in today, the rates are going up. now, what are our options? and he's saying our best option is actually what the president has laid out. >> that's right and so, john boehner has asked himself, how do we get to that place and i think you were right earlier, that he's allowing cole to go out there and everyone knows cole is a good friend. everyone knows if they come to some type of deal, it's going to require some republicans and a

ton of democrats, but it's going to require a significant number of of republicans. not four or five. it may be as many as 50 to 100 because the democrats are going to insist we're not going to do this largely alone like they did the bailout in 2008, so this is kind of paving the way for that to happen. how do we make that happen? put tom cole out there and maybe we can get 30 or 40 republicans. you combine that with the democratic caucus and get there. >> and that is very powerful from boehner. he now gets to use cole as a club against eric cantor or any crazy tea party republicans who refuse to go along with a reasonable outcome here. he can say to them, look, if you guys hold into that position, the cole wing is going to do this without us. krystal ball and ryan grim,

thank you both for joining me tonight. coming up, sandra fellma joins me to talk about the fiscal curb and mitt romney's headed to the white house the only way he can and in the rewrite tonight, a very big ending for the first amendment and a big loss for bad cops. [ emily jo ] derrell comes into starbucks with his wife, danielle, almost every weekend. derrell hasn't been able to visit his mom back east in a long time. [ shirley ] things are sometimes a little tight around the house. i wasn't able to go to the wedding. [ emily jo ] since derrell couldn't get home, we decided to bring home to him and then just gave him a little bit of help finding his way. ♪ [ laughs ] [ applause ] i love you. i love you, too.

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democrats said they think it's a good idea to drive the economy off the fiscal cliff this january. you might call this thelma and louise economics. right off the cliff. ♪

>> joining me now, senator feldma. >> great to talk to you. >> senator, you've been the leader on how the democrats should be approaching the so-called off the cliff drama and i just want to play something you said on july 16th at the brookings institute. let's listen to that. >> we can't get a good deal, a balanced deal that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share, when i will absolutely continue this debate into 2013. >> after that, senator mcconnell called that thelma and louise economics. tell us why this cliff is not as disastrous a cliff to go off? >> first of all, no one wants to go off any cliff or hill or

slope. there is a responsible way to revolve this. but if we take a bad deal and say that all of the nation's fiscal problems are to be balanced on the back of middle class families and the wealthy don't participate, that's a bad deal we cannot and should not live within this country. >> shortly before your public comments about this this past summer, i was hearing off the record from democratic senators they believed they were going to have to go off the cliff because at that time, they couldn't conceive of any other way for republicans to violate their pledge to grover norquist that in january, once you're off the cliff, what everyone would be voting r for would not be considered a tax increase, so they thought they were going have to do it. is there now a growing feeling

among democrats that the republicans are breaking up with norquist in such numbers that they might be able to do something reasonable before new year's eve? >> yeah, well, the fact is if we can't get a good deal and the bush tax cuts expire, when we come back in january, anything we do will be a tax cut and the grover norquist pledge won't apply, so it puts the republicans in a better box, but i think there's a growing understanding among americans that putting us in that position doesn't help them at all, the country at all and does put us in jeopardy. so accepting that now, which the country spoke out for in the election, the president won on this issue. numerous people talked about this. they said those earning over $250,000 a year should pay, go back to the clinton. i think ths a dead end argument for them. >> you don't want to go off the cliff, but you're willingness to go off the cliff in order to get

the best deal is the democrats' leverage here. you have grover norquist running scared on how to strategize. let's listen to what he said. >> to get towards the end and if the republicans have played it right, they say look, let's push it out a month or two weeks so you should never go over, just as you do with continued resolutions. >> what's your response to that? >> i'm not sure what he said. >> he seems to be saying that you can just kick the can down the road and make some sort of continuing resolution deal to avoid ever hitting the cliff. >> i truly do not know what he's talking about. right now, everyone, republicans and democrats, agree that we should extend the bush tax cuts for those people earning less than $250,000 a year.

in fact, on all income less than $250,000 a year and go into the next year dealing with the larger issues we know are on the table. the republicans in the house can pick up that bill and pass it now, which. which.puts us in a better position. >> senator, you voted for the clinton tax rates, which is what we would revert to on january 1st and now, the democrats only want to preserve the top end of the which i know the tax rates. are we really going to be able to fund the government long-term without returning to the full package of the clinton tax rates? >> i think everybody really understands that a budget is more than just a document. it is about our priorities in this country. we have talked for a number of years now about the challenges we have in terms of the debt and deficit. but we are not talked about the

investments that are needed in this country that will help make us stronger in the future. whether we're talking about education or job training or investment in our infrastructure or providing the services for our veterans when they come home or those kinds of things that we can't just continue to talk about cutting government. we have to have a country that actually is strong in the underpinnings and that is a balanced approach that i think we need to be taking. >> before we go, i swrus want to turn to one other piece of senate business, this oddity of susan rice. it's just a simple question about john mccain and lindsey graham and john mccain and lindsey graham, do you think they are crazy and you can answer yes or maybe. >> what i believe is that susan rice is an incredible person with a great deal of intelligence and integrity and ought to be taken for her word.

i think it's really unfortunate for her. >> i don't think senators are crazy in my experience, so i've been theorizing this is about opening up the secretary of state job for john kerry, so if they then reopen a massachusetts senate seat r for scott brown. is that your sense of the game that's being played? >> i have no idea. you are much more mcvavalian thinking than 1 am. coming up, we'll find out about ari melber and guess who's coming to dinner? mitt romney's last chance to get into the white house is coming up. [ male announcer ] we all make bad decisions.

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what could they have to talk about? maybe they can reminisce about their days at harvard law school where the president was president of the law review and mitt romney wasn't. mitt romney's trip to the white house tomorrow where barack obama is president and mitt romney isn't. that's coming up with jonathan capehart and richard wolffe and the supreme court comes down on the side of the people and against bad cops.

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in the weeks ahead, i also

look forward to sitting down with governor romney talking about where we can work together to move this country together. >> that was president obama being characteristically magnanimous so the president will have to fayne -- from the losing republican presidential candidate who will likely never be invited to the white house again by any president of either party. in the spotlight tonight, lunch with mitt. there will be no press, no campaign handlers, no moderators, just the president of the united states and a diluted man who chose someone to head his team on june 3rd, just five days after he secured the republican nomination for president. the president, who can spin with the best of them when he has to, had this to say about their lunch a couple of weeks ago.

>> i do think he did a terrific job of running the olympics. he presented some ideas during the campaign that i actually agree with. i'm not either prejudging what he's interested in doing nor am i suggesting i've got some specific assignment, but what i want to do is to get ideas from him and see if there's some ways that we can potentially work together. >> all with a straight face. today, jay carney was asked what the president meant when he said work together. >> is governor romney here tomorrow in some kind of candidate level position? audition -- >> no. >> beyond that, is there some kind of reorganization in the commerce department where governor romney could play a role? >> the president does not have a specific assignment in mind for the governor. >> mitt romney has not been as

generous about the president in his comments since the election. >> what the president's campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote. >> jonathan capehart, you wrote today and i'm sure you thought about this. i would hand over my entire tie collection just to be in the room. now -- >> absolutely. that's a big tie collection. >> has the president seen your entire tie collection? >> no, he has not. no, he has not seen the tie collection, but there are people around him who know about my tie collection. so -- >> national security thing. >> here's what i think. i think the whole lunch could be on cspan and while it was going

on, you would start reading other stuff. this is wicked boring. >> i bet the president will talk to him about the fiscal cliff and they'll talk about entitlement reform and maybe tax reform. but the one thing i don't think the president will do because the president is a gentleman, you know, what was up with the 47% and gifts? i gave gifts to people? he's not going to go there with mitt romney. one, as i said because he's gentleman, but two, he doesn't have to because mitt romney is coming there not as president of the united states, but guest of. and that's the best -- >> i now have a solid prediction. he will not once say the word yo. >> that was my own -- >> your artistic representation.

>> richard, what i think, the only thing i'd find great about it is watching obama, the actor. as we just saw, oh, i thought he did a terrific job at the olympics, i loved watching that stream of i'm not sure what you call it, but it's acting. it's not coming from the heart. >> he does it very sincerely and look, we may never know what happens inside those quiet rooms that they're going to be having their meeting in, but here's what we know. mitt romney has an incredible capacity to incredibly reverse himself in the moment. being a complete loser and the person who was corrupting america, he may find -- in addition to being a very wealthy venture capitalist and here's what we know about the president and this was a shocking for all

the people campaigning with him in 2008. as soon as the election was over, he turned his entire transition over to people who were loyal to hillary clinton and when people saw that, they saw john padesta. they said what is this about. the president as president-elect and in the white house has the capacity to reinvent himself repeatedly and maybe imagine will happen. maybe they're going to say here's my new health secretary, because he knows so much about implementing this thing. >> but there is a possible teasing moment here. given everything that romney said. if the president would say to him, to ask him for advice about setting up these operations in each state, how did you do it? what should we know about how to do it? since romney said i am going to prevent this from happening, to sit there because he could have advice.

>> or the president could say, wait a minute, we met with all your advisers, yet we know what you would tell us, so never mind. how's the weather? >> seriously, there is this body called the independent advisory board, which is designed to save money out of medicare, spread best practice. who better than mitt romney who's greatest achievement of governor of massachusetts, good enough to put in his portrait in massachusetts, out him as governor. who better to bring republicans into this cost cutting, health expansion, mitt romney. >> i know about 75 staffers. i'm trying. who are all better at anything involving that than this guy. but, so there's going to be the driveway. right? romney doesn't have to do the driveway microphones moment, but that's an interesting choice for him.

does he do it? not do it? >> apparently, that's not going to happen. if you read jay carney's announcement of this, this will be a private lunch in the private dining room. it will be closed press. i mean -- >> you do have to enter and exit the building and -- >> it depends if his driver nows how to go down the west lobby and side, he could get exposed. every reporter is going to be waiting for him to answer those questions. >> what's our sense of how long he'll take to leave on what went on with these two people in that room? >> two principles in a room without aides, we may never know. the president and the departing president president bush had many important moments together. trying to find out what happened between the two of them is state secret stuff. >> what's your bet? you think romney's going going

to leak? president obama's not going to leak? >> i don't know. >> bob woodward's going to be standing there. >> 12:30 is the lunch. >> thank you both for joining me tonight. coming up, the support court does the right thing and throws a big scare into bad cops. that's in the rewrite and later, what ari has to report on the republicans scheming to prevent susan rice from becoming secretary of state. that's coming up. my doctor told me calcium is efficiently absorbed in small continuous amounts.

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watched along with the rest of the world, lapd sergeant stacy coon and yes, that is the man's unforgettable name. as bad cops watched him supervise the near death beating of rodney king, bad cops throughout this country realized they had have to expand their contempt for the people they were supposed to serve and protect. expand it to include anyone with a video camera aimed at them. one night last year on this program when we showed you this video, i learned something i didn't know and had trouble believing. most important thing i learned

>> most important thing i learned was not on the show. it came right after the show when one of the staff here told me that in chicago, it was a crime to videotape police officers. i couldn't believe it because that's clearly unconstitutional, but checked it out and found it was true. after the rodney king beating, chicago police decided to use an old antieves dropping low to protect themselves. a law which basically made it a felony to record a conversation unless all parties agreed to be recorded, that meant you couldn't shoot video of chicago police because of course, video rorying normally including sound. a constitutional challenge finally made its way to the court on monday and the court

refused to hear the case, which in this instance, was a huge victory for the first amendment because that means that the lower court's ruling stands. the seventh u.s. circuit court of appeals rewrote the old law out of existence. the opinion written by a judge who was appointed be i president george w. bush says the illinois eves dropping statute restricts far more speech than necessary to protect legitimate privacy interests. it violates free speech and free press guarantees. the people of illinois had tired of this obviously unconstitutional law before the supreme court disposed of it this week. in august of last year, a woman was prosecuted for recording internal investigators who she

believed were trying to persuade her not to file a sexual harassment complaint against a police officer. the woman went to trial and was found not guilty by a jury of her peers. the good police officers in this country, which is to say most, have no problem with the supreme court's decision. you can videotape them all day and you won't find them doing anything wrong. >> thank you. >> but tonight, thanks to federal judges appointed wii both democratic and republican presidents, some chicago cops, the bad cops, have something new to fear. your video.

susan rice is extraordinary. couldn't be prouder of the job she's done. >> that was president obama today at his first cabinet meeting since winning re-election. today, she received this praise from secretary of state hillary clinton. >> susan rice has done a great job as our ambassador to the united nations. and of course, this decision about my successor is up to the president.

>> today, republican senators continued to try to open up the massachusetts senate seat that scott brown could run for. >> i think john kerry would be an excellent appointment and would be easily confirmed by his colleagues. >> if the president wants an easy confirmation hearing and process, nominate john kerry, who is imminently qualified to be secretary of state and i believe he would sail through in the nominating process. >> joining me now, ari mel ber. ari, you're coming to us tonight from kerry country, boston and i've got to think this is a horrible moment for senator kerry. you don't want to be the guy who gets praise from the mindless attackers of susan rice. >> yeah, i don't think he wants any part of this very weird boomerang play the republicans are trying to practice. he knows her well because as

chairman of foreign relations committee, he oversees the state department, looking at the diplomacy and ambassadors and working with secretary clinton and ambassador rice. >> well, today, ambassador rice met with susan collins and bob corker and here are the lies those senators told after the meeting. >> i continue to be troubled by the fact that the u.n. ambassador decided to play what was essentially a political role at the height of the contentious presidential election campaign. >> i would just ask the president to step back for a moment and realize that all of us here hold the secretary of state to a very different standard than most cabinet members.

we want someone of independence. >> okay, ari, that's bob corker lying about these mythical standards of secretary of state. said she campaigned for george w. bush. this is crazy stuff they're talking and. >> condoleezza rice after stanford was a political adviser to w. bush an it's not a problem as long as you take the role seriously. the expectation about what you do once in office. i think it's sad, also, a misunderstanding of the senate's role what some of these republican senators are saying. they have a role to -- they don't have a role to block and filibuster endlessly. when they have tried to block nominee, it has boom ranged on them. that's why -- now in the senate because they played so many games thwarting the nomination. she knocked one of their colleagues out. i don't think that is the same situation here.

but again, you showed the clip just earlier of the president praising susan rice. she was in the cabinet meeting in that footage because democratic administrations typically make the u.n. ambassador. republican administration typically do not and it goes back to the fact there are some historical debuts, but there's no doubt that the president knows susan rice has had confidence in her and if he chooses to go with her, it will be continuity in his foreign policy. >> ari, what's the talk in massachusetts about a possible senate race of john kerry because there's still speculation he might go to defense if he didn't go to state. >> the folks i know who work for john kerry are much more focused on the fit for the state department because that is of course what he oversees on his committee.